Migration is the movement of people from one place to live in another. It is the third component of population dynamics after fertility and mortality. Emigrants leave their country, while immigrants enter a country. In-migration refers to people moving into one place from another place within a nation (internal migration) whereas out-migration is the process of people moving out of one place to another place within a nation (internal migration). It is considered as a dynamic form of demographic change of both a region and a nation (Sarno, 2011). Migration and its diverse forms, including economic migration, irregular migration, forced migration, and the plethora of factors that undermine people’s decisions to leave their habitat and seek fortune in new places, occupy a dominant position in contemporary research and political debate (Anna Visvizi M. D., 2020; Anna Visvizi M. P., 2019). Migration a subject of investigation is significant because processes like nation-state-building, globalisation, economic development etc. are related directly to migration and shape the socio-economic dynamics around us (Bretell, Caroline, & Hollifield, 2000).
Migration may be undertaken due to economic, social, political or environmental reasons, initiated either by pull or push factors. Spatially uneven distribution of wealth, opportunity, and privilege is one of the key drivers of migration (Castles & Miller, 2009). Migration may reflect an individual’s aspiration for a better life, related to the capacity to aspire and to realise improvements in general well-being (Czaika, 2014). In 2016 the United Nations General Assembly convened a high-level plenary meeting on addressing large movements of refugees and migrants and prepared the report “Safety and Dignity: Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants.” The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 2015, Goal 8.8 enlists, ‘Protect labour rights and promote safe and secure working environments of all workers, including migrant workers, particularly women migrants, and those in precarious employment,’ and goal 10.7 is inscribed as to, ‘Facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies.’
Migration, especially economic migration in India is undertaken by migrant labour with the objective of attaining a better QOL (Quality of Life) (Murgas, 2016). Migration is a livelihood strategy adopted by millions of people in India (Bhagat R. B., Assessing The Measurement Of Internal Migration In India, 2008). The Constitution of India (Article 19) gives the right to all citizens “to move freely throughout the territory of India and to reside and settle in any part of the territory of India. 45.36 crore people (i.e. 37 per cent of total population) in India are internal migrants with 10% of them out-migrating for work and employment. Most of the migrants, around 70 per cent, are females. 49 per cent people migrate for marriage. Less Indians are now relocating for work and employment, only 10.2 per cent in 2011, down from 14.4 per cent in 2001. For men, ‘work and employment’ was the top reason for migration whereas for women, it was ‘marriage’. Nearly two-third of the migrants (64 per cent) migrated more than 10 years ago, up from 54 per cent in 2001 (Bansal, 2016) (Census of India, 2011). According to the Census of 2011, most of the movement (62%) is within the same district. Another 26% is between districts within the same state. Only 12% of movement is inter-state (De, 2019). In India, internal migration (fueled by an increasing rate of urbanization and rural-urban wage difference) is far greater than an external migration. Rural to urban migrants are mainly concentrated in 53 million plus urban agglomerations (Bhagat R. B., The COVID-19, Migration and Livelihood in India, 2020). A major proportion of migrants are engaged as temporary wage/casual labour, typically in low jobs in informal sector due to which they often suffer from various deprivations and handicaps (Srivastava, 2011). The low contribution of net rural-to urban migration to urban growth suggests a limited role of migration in population redistribution in the country (Bhagat & Mohanty, 2009). The level of urbanization is relatively low (31.6 per cent) but this in part the product of the restrictive definition of what constitutes an urban area.
The in-migration in Delhi is due to pull factors like employment, education, business, tourism etc. Being the capital of India, Delhi attracts migrants from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Jammu & Kashmir etc. (Islam & Siddique, 2015). This paper seeks to examine statistically whether migration to NCT of Delhi is of the ‘male-selective nature’ especially that relating to work. The objective of this paper is to determine whether migration to large city for work is male selective in nature using the case study of Delhi through the Census 2011 data.
Migration is a phenomenon that shifts space and time and has been called ‘an ageless human strategy to improve life and could be defined as a natural behaviour of human beings,’ defined by thresholds of distance and time; this makes it intrinsically geographical (Borkert, Perez, Scott, & Tona, 2007; Boyle, Halfacree, & Robinson, 1998). Ravenstein, Zelinsky, Mabogunje, and Hägerstrand are four geographers who have made significant contributions to theorising migration (King, 2011), as these authors’ approaches have achieved a kind of canonical status, measured by references to their work (Lewis, 1982; White & Woods, 1980; Clark, 1986; Skeldon, 1990). Brettell CB and Hollifield (2000) analysed Ravenstein’s lawsof migration as they ‘provided the hypotheses upon which much future migration research and theorisation were to be built’, citing Everett Lee’s ‘theory of migration’ (1966) and the long-standing tradition of gravity modelling of migration (Brettell & Hollifield, 2000) (Ravenstein, 1885). Zelinsky, whose ‘hypothesis of the mobility transition’ sought to link ‘definite, patterned regularities’ in the evolution of different types of migration and mobility to parallel phases of demographic and economic change (Zelinsky, 1971). Akin Mabogunje’s 1970 landmark paper on the systems approach to migration has a similar level of canonical status to those by Ravenstein and Zelinsky (Mabogunje, 1970). The mobile life-path webs of individuals are manifested and better understood in three-dimensional time–space was well explained by Hagerstrand (Hagerstrand, Diorama, path and project, 1982), who also statistically modelled the relationship between migration and distance, demonstrating how individuals’ perception of distance was logarithmically transformed according to ‘people’s information fields’, developed later in his landmark study of innovation diffusion (Hagerstrand, Innovation Diffusion as a Spatial Process, 1975). Geographical research on migration has gone through three main phases: an early pioneering stage when geographers such as Ravenstein, Zelinsky, Mabogunje, and Hagerstrand made fundamental statements on migration theory; a second phase where quantitatively skilled population geographers made important contributions to mapping and modelling migration processes and patterns; and the post-positivist, post-structuralist cultural turn that, in the past 15–20 years, has seen social, cultural, and feminist geographers develop more nuanced understandings of the phenomenology of migration, usually employing qualitative methodologies (Moon, 1995).
Migration data can be collected either as a transition or an event. The former is based on change in the place of last residence along with duration of stay at the current place, while event data refers to number of moves during a year like demographic data of births and deaths. Census and surveys both provide data on migration transitions, while data on migration event is generally available from population register. The census is the largest source data on internal migration in India and gives information on the various facets of internal migration along with reasons of migration (Keshri & Bhagat, 2018; Deshingkar & Akter, 2009). Cities provide economic opportunities that have always attracted migrants. More than half the world’s population resides in urban areas, and cities continue to attract people in search of a better of life and greater job prospects and services. Well managed migration can be an asset for economies and societies, particularly in the long term (Omidvar & Koser, 2017; Conway, 1980). On average, people who left home because of personal problems moved to places where they expected to be better off (Zimmerman & Bauer, 2002). Migrants are very heterogeneous, differing at least as much from each other as they differ from the general population. Migrants have mixed success in the labour market; some migrants are very successful, but others are unemployed or inactive. There is little evidence that native workers are harmed by migration. The broader economic impact of migration is likely to be positive, because of migrants’ age distribution and higher average wages and employment is an important determinant. However, mot enough is known about migrants’ social outcomes (Glover, et al., 2001). The process of work participation in Delhi National Capital Region (NCR) is highly selective and is in favour of male workers (Bora, 2014).
Census Terms and Definition according to the Census of India 2011 are as follows:
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Types of Migration: Migration in the Census of India is of two types – Migration by Birth place and Migration by place of last residence. When a person is enumerated in Census at a place, i.e., village or town, different from her/his place of birth, she/he would be considered a migrant by place of birth. A person would be considered a migrant by place of last residence, if she/he had last resided at a place other than her/his place of enumeration. (Since the 1971 Census, data is being collected on the basis of place of last residence in addition to the question on birth place. Question on ‘Reason for migration’ was introduced in 1981).
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Reasons for Migration: The Census also captures the reasons for migration. The following reasons for migration from place of last residence are captured: (a) Work/Employment, (b) Business, (c) Education, Marriage, (d) Moved after birth, (e) Moved with household and any other.